Free Marc Almond biography and latest music, latest album, top tracks | SONG365 Country:Other Genres:Dance-Pop, Synth Pop, New Romantic, New Wave, 80s, Pop, Cabaret Biogphiy: Marc Almond (born Peter Mark Sinclair Almond on 9 July 1957 in Southport, Lancashire, (now in the county of Merseyside, England) is a popular English singer, songwriter and recording artist, who originally found fame as half of the seminal synthpop/new wave duo Soft Cell. Marc Almond has had a long and varied career spanning almost 30 years. During this time, after a career with Soft Cell and Marc and the Mambas, he has collaborated with an extremely wide range of artists including Antony and the Johnsons, Jools Holland, Siouxsie Sioux, Nick Cave, P. J. Proby, Nico, Kelli Ali of the Sneaker Pimps, Neal X (on the albums Fantastic Star and Open All Night), Marie France, Agnes Bernelle, Lydia Lunch, Gene Pitney on the #1 UK single “Something’s Gotten Hold of My Heart”, Foetus (a.k.a.

J. G. Thirlwell), Jimmy Somerville of The Communards and Bronski Beat, Psychic TV, Coil, Sally Timms of Mekons, King Roc, John Cale and David Johansen of The New York Dolls and German band Rosenstolz. Almond initially shot to fame in the early 1980s as one half of synth duo Soft Cell, whose combination of drama and peep show sleaze set to an electronic beat gave them hits such as “Tainted Love” (UK #1), “Bedsitter” (UK #3), “Torch” (UK #2), “Say Hello Wave Goodbye” (UK #3), “Soul Inside” (UK # 16), “What?” (UK #3) and the club hit “Memorabilia”. They were first spotted by David Oddie, boss of Wakefield based Ambergris Records in a Bradford club, who passed his enthusiasm onto Dead Good Records in Lincoln, famous for their Hicks From The Sticks compilation, who in turn approached Polygram, the newly formed amalgam of Polydor and Phonogram.

Marc Almond Tracks Marc Almond Marc Almond Artists Marc Almond Marc Almond (born Peter Mark Sinclair Almond on 9 July 1957 in Southport, Lancashire, (now in the county of Merseyside, England) is a popular English singer, songwriter and recording artist, who originally found fame as half of the seminal synthpop/New Wave duo Soft Cell. Marc Almond has had a long and varied career spanning almost 30 years. During this time, after a career with Soft Cell and Marc and the Mambas, he has collaborated with an extremely wide range of artists including Antony and The Johnsons, Jools Holland, Siouxsie Sioux, Nick Cave, P.J. Proby, Nico, Kelli Ali of the Sneaker Pimps, Neal X (on the albums Fantastic Star and Open All Night), Marie France, Agnes Bernelle, Lydia Lunch, Gene Pitney on the #1 UK single "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart", Foetus (a.k.a. J. G.

Thirlwell), Jimmy Somerville of The Communards and Bronski Beat, Psychic TV, Coil, Sally Timms of Mekons, King Roc, John Cale and David Johansen of The New York Dolls and German band Rosenstolz. Almond initially shot to fame in the early 1980s as one half of synth duo Soft Cell, whose combination of drama and peep show sleaze set to an electronic beat gave them hits such as "Tainted Love" (UK #1), "Bedsitter" (UK #3), "Torch" (UK #2), "Say Hello Wave Goodbye" (UK #3), "Soul Inside" (UK # 16), "What?" (UK #3) and the club hit "Memorabilia". They were first spotted by David Oddie, boss of Wakefield based Ambergris Records in a Bradford club, who passed his enthusiasm onto Dead Good Records in Lincoln, famous for their Hicks From The Sticks compilation, who in turn approached Polygram, the newly formed amalgam of Polydor and Phonogram.

Although Soft Cell disbanded in 1984 just before the release of fourth album, This Last Night In Sodom, the duo reunited in 2001 for live shows and in 2002 released a new album entitled Cruelty Without Beauty, from which the single "The Night" (UK #39) was taken. His biggest UK hits as a solo artist have been cover versions; the aforementioned 1989 number one duet with Gene Pitney and another near chart-topper in 1991 with David McWilliams' "The Days of Pearly Spencer", which peaked at #4. In 1985, he duetted with Jimmy Somerville and Bronski Beat on a cover of Donna Summer's "I Feel Love (Medley)" and it hit #3. The highest UK positions his self-penned singles have reached so far have been "Stories of Johnny" (#23 in 1985), "Tears Run Rings" (#28 in 1988) and "Adored and Explored" (#25 in 1995).

Almond's work runs the gamut from electronica and dance music to French chanson, traditional piano ballads, and Russian romance songs, as exhibited on his 2003 album Heart on Snow. Influences include David Bowie, a childhood hero of his, as well as early 1960s Northern Soul and disco. Other major influences have been Scott Walker from Walker Brothers and Jacques Brel, 12 of whose songs Almond reworked in English for his 1989 album Jacques. Almond's own lyrics are a creative expression of what he sees and are not to be confused with his own life. He also operates a record label, Blue Star Music, on which he has released many of his solo and collaborative records in the UK. Almond currently lives in the Bermondsey area of south east London. In his autobiography he describes previously living in Earl's Court, in a converted church in Fulham and most memorably in Soho's Berwick Street, where he lived in a flat overlooking the Raymond Revuebar.

Pop New Wave 80s Marc Almond: From bedsit to plague pit | Stage | The Guardian Theatre Marc Almond: From bedsit to plague pit Once the sultan of sleazy synth pop, Marc Almond's new Edinburgh show Ten Plagues examines the Black Death. Gloomy? 'We're all dropping off the end of a conveyor belt,' he says Going viral … Marc Almond at Wilton’s Music Hall in London. Photograph: Linda Nylind for the Guardian Monday 18 July 2011 16.31 EDT First published on Monday 18 July 2011 16.31 EDT Share on Messenger Close Thirty years ago, Marc Almond was a slightly built man who wore black eyeliner and studded wrist bands and sang outre songs about seedy films and sex dwarves. He then spent the next 20 years in a rock'n'roll haze induced by cocaine, crack, ecstasy, ethyl chloride, Halcion, heroin, LSD, MDA, mescaline, opium, purple haze, ketamine, speed, sleeping pills and Valium – and those are just the drugs he admits to.

He was not, in other words, the sort of person you would expect to see turning up in a sophisticated song cycle about life in the 17th century. "I look back on a lot of the 80s and 90s and I can't think of them with fondness," Almond says. "I look back with a shudder. I wasn't in a very good place for a lot of that time. It all ended in tears." Yet reset the clock to 2011 and here he is, gearing up for a prime Edinburgh fringe slot in Ten Plagues, a piece of music theatre written by playwright Mark Ravenhill and composer Conor Mitchell , and directed and designed by Tony-award winner Stewart Laing . "It's been a challenge," says Almond, now 53 but looking puckishly younger. "I'll either sink or swim, but that's how I've always gone for things." Where other pioneering synth-pop groups of the early 80s added detached vocals to the mechanised beat of new musical technology, Soft Cell broke the mould with Almond's vulnerable, impassioned and not always entirely in-tune vocals.

The duo (Dave Ball was the other member) forged the missing link between Kraftwerk and northern soul, a strategy that got them to No 1 in 17 countries with their cover of Gloria Jones's Tainted Love . Acclaim continued with Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye , but Tainted Love remains the calling card. "Thank God for Rihanna sampling it in her song," says Almond, referring to the singer's 2006 single SOS . "I really like Rihanna. I download her singles from iTunes, so I loved it." Almond has a long track record when it comes to theatre. With only two O-levels to his name, he talked his way into Leeds Polytechnic where, under the guidance of the late counter-culture activist Jeff Nuttall , he became a specialist in performance art. In one student show, he shaved half his body and performed naked but for his boots and a "strategically placed swastika". In another, he smeared his naked body with cat food. "I always wanted to be a dancer rather than a singer," he says. "But because I have no coordination, it never worked. At art college I put on performances involving slides and films, with me at the centre.

My problem was I can't memorise lines, because I'm dyslexic and I had minor learning difficulties when I was at school. Having a stammer as well – it was very bad when I was young – meant music was a great way for me to go. When you sing you don't stammer, and for some reason I could always memorise songs." We meet in the bare-brick splendour of Wilton's Music Hall , a grade II-listed relic in London's East End of which Almond is patron. He talks in an excited babble, animated, intelligent and chatty, though the stammer returned after a motorcycle accident in 2004; it also left him with a collapsed lung and a punctured eardrum. Ten Plagues came about after Almond saw Ravenhill's 2001 play Mother Clap's Molly House , set in the male brothels of the 18th century, and told the playwright that he would love to collaborate with him.

Ravenhill has returned the compliment by writing a libretto about the great plague of London, taking inspiration from Samuel Pepys, Daniel Defoe and Susan Sontag's polemical work, Aids and Its Metaphors . Mitchell turned Ravenhill's text into a song cycle set at the time of the Black Death, in which a decimated population is struggling to maintain social order. "It's about loss, grief, survival – and shopping," says Almond, who plays a man journeying through the city, observing the devastation. "You could take Ten Plagues literally, as a historical piece. But you can also see parallels at a time when we seem to be obsessed with fear, pandemic and viruses. Turn on the television today and it's all about E coli. Last year it was bird flu." One such "plague" is HIV. Almond counts himself fortunate to have survived his sexually adventurous years (he describes himself as an "inquisitive" person) without contracting the virus. He first heard about Aids in 1981, when visiting New York to record Soft Cell's debut album.

"On the radio in the taxi on the way to Manhattan they were talking about how a handful of people had died from what they were calling a new gay plague," he says. "I spent a lot of time in New York in the 1980s with the downtown arts crowd, and it became more and more visible. Places closed down and the whole landscape of New York seemed to change. It seemed to go very dark, desperate, fearful and unfriendly." Almond has lost friends and colleagues to the disease including avant-garde opera singer Klaus Nomi , Freddie Mercury and Derek Jarman . "In Ten Plagues, the character becomes very hardened towards death," he says. "I can understand that. Whereas I used to get very affected by somebody dying, now I feel a grief but I take it in my stride. That's a thing of getting older anyway; we're all on this conveyor belt and dropping off the end of it. As you get older, the diseases start coming, often the consequences of the things we did in our hedonistic days; we become more frail, more fragile.

Being someone who's had a number of near-death experiences myself, it doesn't frighten me." Almond has been free of drugs for more than a decade and never goes to pubs or clubs. He is awake by 6am and in bed at 10.30pm. He's glad he's been booked into an afternoon slot on the Edinburgh fringe because ill health (anaemia, food allergies and aching joints) means he gets tired easily. There is, however, still something of the night about the man who has chronicled the lives of outcasts and outsiders in more than 20 albums. He doesn't care for the sun, and needs some gentle cajoling from the Guardian photographer before removing his shades. But, more than a decade after going through rehab, he seems more comfortable with himself: "The years from the millennium to now have been the most satisfying, creative and happy time of my life." At peace with Tainted Love Almond's move into the theatre is typical of a career that has rarely played to expectation.

He took an abrupt detour from synth pop into Spanish rhythms on the 1983 Marc and the Mambas album Torment and Toreros ; subsequent solo releases have taken in influences from Gene Pitney to Jacques Brel. His latest album, Feasting with Panthers, is a sumptuous piano-driven collaboration with Michael Cashmore , featuring songs derived from the poetry of Jean Cocteau, Gérard de Nerval and Jean Genet. "It's decadent poetry translated by Jeremy Reed , who's like a glam-rock poet," he says. "It's more narrative, which puts me in a good setting for Ten Plagues, getting away from the verse-chorus-middle-eight of the classical pop song." Almond says he is as creative as ever, but also, at last, reconciled to his past. "I've had to learn to love Tainted Love," he says. "There was a period in my life when I never wanted to sing it or play it again. That's always a big mistake. People say, 'Why do you want to disrespect our growing up? Why do you want to deny it?' And they're right.

It's like a theme tune, and you have to accept that people will want it until the day they die – and thank God they do, because it's something that brings you down to earth. You can do all kinds of artistic, esoteric or theatrical projects, and then you can come back to earth and sing a few pop songs. You go on stage and sing Tainted Love and everybody loves you and forgives you everything." • Ten Plagues is at the Traverse, Edinburgh, 6–28 August; Feasting with Panthers is out now on Cherry Red Records. Correction 19/7/2011: An 's' was missed off the end of the title of Susan Sontag's book Aids and its Metaphors. This has been corrected. The Days Of Pearly Spencer - Marc Almond - YouTube The Days Of Pearly Spencer - Marc Almond Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later.

Uploaded on May 14, 2009 Marc Almond (born Peter Mark Sinclair Almond on 9 July 1957 in Southport, Lancashire) is an English singer, songwriter and recording artist, who originally found fame as half of the seminal synthpop/New Wave duo Soft Cell. Almond has had a long and varied career spanning almost 30 years. During this time, after a career with Soft Cell and Marc and the Mambas, he has collaborated with an extremely wide range of artists including Antony and The Johnsons, Jools Holland, Siouxsie Sioux, Nick Cave, P.J. Proby, Nico, Kelli Ali of the Sneaker Pimps, Neal X (on the albums Fantastic Star and Open All Night), Marie France, Agnes Bernelle, Lydia Lunch, Gene Pitney on the #1 UK single "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart", Foetus (a.k.a. J. G. Thirlwell), Jimmy Somerville of The Communards and Bronski Beat, Psychic TV, Coil, Sally Timms of the Mekons, King Roc, John Cale, David Johansen of The New York Dolls and German band Rosenstolz.

Almond initially shot to fame in the early 1980s as one half of synth duo Soft Cell, whose combination of drama and peep show sleaze set to an electronic beat gave them hits such as "Tainted Love" (UK #1), "Bedsitter" (UK #3), "Torch" (UK #2), "Say Hello Wave Goodbye" (UK #3), "Soul Inside" (UK # 16), "What?" (UK #3) and the club hit "Memorabilia". They were first spotted by David Oddie, boss of Wakefield based Ambergris Records in a Bradford club, who passed his enthusiasm onto Dead Good Records in Lincoln, famous for their Hicks From The Sticks compilation, who in turn approached Polygram, the newly formed amalgam of Polydor and Phonogram. Although Soft Cell disbanded in 1984 just before the release of fourth album, This Last Night In Sodom, the duo reunited in 2001 for live shows and in 2002 released a new album entitled Cruelty Without Beauty, from which the single "The Night" (UK #39) was taken.

His biggest UK hits as a solo artist have been cover versions; the aforementioned 1989 number one duet with Gene Pitney and another near chart-topper in 1992, "The Days of Pearly Spencer", which peaked at #4. In 1985, he duetted with Jimmy Somerville and Bronski Beat on a cover of Donna Summer's "I Feel Love (Medley)" and it hit #3. The highest UK positions his self-penned singles have reached so far have been "Stories of Johnny" (#23 in 1985), "Tears Run Rings" (#28 in 1988 and #5 in the Netherlands) and "Adored and Explored" (#25 in 1995). (Wikipedia) Read More: Talk Show - TV interviews with Marc Almond Talk Show - TV interviews with Marc Almond Soft Cell's Marc Almond interviewed on television. Talk shows, cooking shows and even kids shows!

Curated by Daniel Menche Talk Show 80s bbc marc almond new wave soft cell Peter Mark Sinclair "Marc" Almond ( / ˈ ɑː m ən d / ; born 9 July 1957, Southport ) [1] is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Almond first began performing and recording in the synthpop / New Wave duo Soft Cell . He has also had a diverse career as a solo artist. Almond's official website claims he has sold over 30 million records worldwide. [2] Almond was born in 1957 in Southport (then Lancashire , now part of Merseyside ), the son of Sandra Mary Diesen and Peter John Sinclair Almond, a Second Lieutenant in the King's Liverpool Regiment . He was brought up at his grandparents' house in Birkdale with his younger sister, Julia, and as a child suffered from bronchitis and asthma . When he was four, they left their grandparents' house and moved to Starbeck on the edge of Harrogate , North Yorkshire . Two years later they returned to Southport, and then moved to Horsforth (a suburb of Leeds ).

[3] Childhood and early life[ edit source ] At the age of 11 he attended Aireborough Grammar School near Leeds. Almond found solace in music, listening to British radio pioneer John Peel . The first album he purchased was the soundtrack of the stage musical Hair and the first single " Green Manalishi " by Fleetwood Mac . He later became a great fan of Marc Bolan and David Bowie and got a part-time job as a stable boy to fund his musical tastes. [4] After his parents' divorce in 1972 he moved with his mother back to his home town of Southport. He gained two O-Levels in Art and English and was accepted onto a General Art and Design course at Southport College , specialising in Performance Art . [5] He applied to Leeds Polytechnic where he was interviewed by Jeff Nuttall , also a performance artist, who accepted him on the strength of his performing skills. During his time at Art College he did a series of performance theatre pieces: "Zazou", "Glamour in Squalor", "Twilights and Lowlifes", as well as Andy Warhol inspired mini-movies.

"Zazou" was reviewed by The Yorkshire Evening Post and described as "one of the most nihilistic depressing pieces that I have ever had the misfortune to see", to which Almond later commented in his autobiography, "So it was a success then." [6] Almond followed bands like Siouxsie and the Banshees and left Art College with a 2:1 honours degree. He later credited writer and artist Molly Parkin with discovering him. It was at Leeds Polytechnic that Almond met David Ball , a fellow student; they formed Soft Cell in 1979. [7] As a child, Almond listened to his parent's record collection, which included his mother's "Let's Dance" by Chris Montez and " The Twist " by Chubby Checker , also his father's collection of jazz including Dave Brubeck and Eartha Kitt . As an adolescent, Almond listened to Radio Caroline and Radio Luxembourg . He listened at first to progressive music , blues and rock , Free , Jethro Tull , Van der Graaf Generator , The Who , and The Doors , and bought the first ever issue of Sounds , because it contained a free poster of Jimmy Page .

Almond became a fan of Marc Bolan after hearing him on the John Peel Show, buying the T. Rex single " Ride a White Swan ". From then on Almond "followed everything Marc Bolan did," and it was his obsession with Bolan that prompted Almond to adopt the 'Marc' spelling. [8] He discovered the songs of Jacques Brel through Bowie as well as Alex Harvey and Dusty Springfield . Brel became a major influence. [3] 1980s[ edit source ] Almond initially shot to fame in the early 1980s as one half of the synth duo Soft Cell , whose hits included " Tainted Love " (UK No. 1), "Bedsitter" (UK No. 4), " Say Hello, Wave Goodbye " (UK No. 3), "Torch" (UK No. 2), "What!" (UK No. 3), "Soul Inside" (UK No. 16), and the club hit "Memorabilia". Soft Cell's first release was an independent record (funded by David Ball 's mother) entitled "Mutant Moments" via Red Rhino Records in 1980.

[9] "Mutant Moments" came to the attention of music entrepreneur Stevo Pearce , who at the time was compiling a "futurist" chart for the music paper Sounds which featured young, upcoming and experimental bands of the new wave of electronic sound. He signed the duo to his Some Bizzare label and they enjoyed a string of nine Top 40 hit singles and four Top 20 albums in the UK between 1981-84. They recorded three albums in New York with producer Mike Thorne: Non Stop Erotic Cabaret, Non Stop Ecstatic Dancing and The Art of Falling Apart. Almond became involved with the New York Underground Art Scene at this time with writer/DJ Anita Sarko, and performed at a number of Art events, as well as meeting many New York Art luminaries, including Andy Warhol . "Tainted Love", a cover of a Gloria Jones ' Northern Soul classic, was number one in the UK and in many countries over the world, and was in the Guinness Book of Records for a while as the record that spent the longest time in the Billboard Top 100 chart in the U.S. It also won the best single award of 1981 at the first Brit Awards.

Soft Cell brought an otherwise obscure Northern Soul classic to mass public attention and their version of the song is, to date, the UK's 59th best selling single of all time, selling over one million copies in the UK. [10] In 1982, Almond formed Marc and the Mambas as an off-shoot project from Soft Cell. Marc and the Mambas was a loose experimental collective that set the template for the artist that Almond would become. The Mambas at various times included Matt Johnson , Steve James Sherlock , Lee Jenkinson, Peter Ashworth, Jim Thirlwell and Annie Hogan, with whom Almond worked later in his solo career. Under the Mambas moniker, Almond recorded two albums, Untitledand the seminal double opus Torment and Toreros. He disbanded the collective when it started to feel too much like a regular band. Soft Cell disbanded in 1984 just before the release of their fourth album, This Last Night In Sodom , though the duo reunited in 2001. Almond's first proper solo album was Vermin in Ermine , released in 1984.

Produced by Mike Hedges, it featured musicians from the Mambas outfit, Annie Hogan , Martin McCarrick and Billy McGee. This ensemble, known as The Willing Sinners, worked alongside Almond for the subsequent albums Stories of Johnny (1985) from which the title track became a minor hit, and Mother Fist and Her Five Daughters (1987), also produced by Mike Hedges. The latter album was highly acclaimed in reviews, with Ned Raggett writing that the 'Mother Fist' album "embraces classic European cabaret to wonderful effect, more so than any American or English rock album since Bowie's Aladdin Sane or Lou Reed's Berlin." [11] McCarrick left The Willing Sinners in 1987 to join Siouxsie and the Banshees , from which point Hogan and McGee became known as La Magia. Almond signed to EMI and released the album The Stars We Are in 1988. [12] This album featured Almond's version of " Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart ", which was later re-recorded as a duet with the song's original singer Gene Pitney and released as a single.

The track reached No. 1 in the UK. It also reached number one in Germany and was a major hit in countries around the world. The Stars We Are became his biggest selling solo album in the USA, and the single "Tears Run Rings" became his only solo single to peak inside the US Billboard Hot 100 . Almond's other recordings in the 1980s included an album of Brel songs, called Jacques , and an album of dark French chansons originally performed by Juliette Greco , Serge Lama and Léo Ferré , as well as poems by Rimbaud and Baudelaire set to music. This album was released in 1993 as Absinthe (The French Album), and was initially recorded in the late 1980s then finished in Paris in the early 1990s. 1990s[ edit source ] Almond's first release in the 1990s was the album Enchanted , which spawned the UK Top 30 hit "A Lover Spurned". A further single from the album, "Waifs and Strays", was remixed by Dave Ball who was now in the electronic dance band The Grid .

In 1991, Soft Cell returned to the charts with a new remix of "Say Hello Wave Goodbye" followed by a re-release of "Tainted Love" (with a new video). The singles were issued to promote a new Soft Cell/Marc Almond compilation album, Memorabilia - The Singles , which collected some of the biggest hits from Almond's career throughout the previous ten years. The album reached the UK Top 10. [13] Almond then signed to WEA and released a new solo album, Tenement Symphony . Produced partly by Trevor Horn , the album yielded three Top 40 hits including renditions of the Jacques Brel classic "Jacky" (which made the UK Top 20), and "The Days of Pearly Spencer" which returned Almond to the UK Top 5 in 1992. Later that year, Almond played a lavish one-off show at the Royal Albert Hall in London, which featured an orchestra and dancers as he performed material from his entire career. The show was recorded and released as the CD and video 12 Years of Tears.

[14] In 1993, Almond toured Russia and Siberia by invitation of the British consul in Moscow. Accompanied only by Martin Watkins on piano, he played small Soviet halls and theatres, often without amplification, and ended at the "mini Bolshoi" in Moscow. Transmitted live on television Almond made a plea for tolerance of gay people. The tour was fraught with troubles, which Almond detailed in his autobiography, but it marked the beginning of his love affair with the genre of Russian folk torch songs known as Romance. Almond's next album Fantastic Star saw him part with WEA and sign to Mercury Records. Much of Fantastic Star was originally recorded in New York with Mike Thorne, but later after signing to Mercury, was reworked in London. Almond also recorded a session for the album with John Cale, David Johanson, and Chris Spedding; some made the final cut. Other songs were produced by Mike Hedges and Martyn Ware . Adding to the disjointed recording process was the fact that during recording Almond also spent several weeks attending a treatment centre in Canterbury for addiction to prescription drugs.

[15] However on its release Fantastic Star gave Almond a hit single with Adored and Explored, and also minor hits and stage favorites such as The Idol and Child Star. Fantastic Star was Almond's last album with a major record label, and the period also marked the ending of his managerial relationship with Stevo Pearce. [16] Almond re-invented himself and signed to Echo records in 1998 with a more downbeat and atmospheric electronica album, Open All Night. This featured R&B and trip hop influences, as well as torch songs for which he had become known. The album featured a duet ("Threat of Love") with Siouxsie Sioux as well as one ("Almost Diamonds") with Keli Ali (then of the Sneaker Pimps ). "Black Kiss", "Tragedy" and "My Love" were the singles from the album Open All Night. [14] Almond left the Echo label and signed to European label Tres Bis Viii where he stayed for the next four years.[ citation needed ] 2000–present[ edit source ] Almond relocated in 2000 to Moscow where he rented an apartment.

With the encouragement and connections of executive producer Misha Kucherenko, he embarked on a three-year recording project of Russian romance and folk songs, called Heart on Snow. Featuring many Russian stars old and new such as Boris Grebenshchikov , Ilya Lagutenko of the Russian band Mumiy Troll , Lyudmila Zykina and Alla Bayanova and featuring The Rossiya Folk Orchestra conducted by Anatole Sobolev, it was the first time that such a project had been undertaken by a Western artist, many of the loved Soviet era songs sung in English for the first time. The album was produced by musician/arranger Andrei Samsonov. Almond performed many times at the famous now demolished Rossiya Concert Hall with Lyudmila Zykina and Alla Bayanova , and with the Rossiya Folk Orchestra. In 2001, Soft Cell reunited briefly and released their first new album in 18 years, Cruelty Without Beauty . Two singles came out of this album, "Monoculture" and a cover of the Frankie Valli 's "The Night", which reached No. 39 in the UK charts.

In October 2004, Almond was seriously injured in a motorbike accident near St Paul's Cathedral , London. [17] Near death and in a coma for weeks, he suffered two huge blood clots and had to undergo emergency surgery twice. [18] He also suffered serious head injuries, multiple breaks and fractures, a collapsed lung and damaged hearing. After the accident he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. [19] He began a slow recovery determined to get back on the stage and in the studio. In June 2007, Almond released an album of cover songs, Stardom Road. Picked to tell a story of his life and career, the album featured songs as diverse as "I Have Lived" by Charles Aznavour , to "Stardom Road" by Third World War, Frank Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night", and "Kitch" by Paul Ryan. The album featured his first new song since the motorbike accident, "Redeem me (Beauty Will Redeem the World)".

Stardom Road was to be one of three albums for the Sanctuary label, the UK's largest independent record label up until 2007 [20] when it got itself into financial difficulty and was sold off in June 2007 to Universal Music Group . [21] In July 2007, Almond celebrated his 50th birthday on stage at the Shepherds Bush Empire in London and in September performed at a tribute show to Marc Bolan, his teenage hero. At the concert he dueted with Bolan's wife, Gloria Jones, on an impromptu version of "Tainted Love". In October 2007, the fashion house Yves Saint Laurent picked Almond's "Strangers in the Night" to represent their show at London's Fashion Rocks. Almond performed for the event at the Royal Albert Hall.

[18] In 2008 and 2009, Almond toured with Jools Holland throughout the UK as well as guesting at shows by Current 93, Baby Dee and a tribute show to the late folk singer Sandy Denny at the Festival Hall.[ citation needed ] In October 2009, Almond released his second album of Russian Romances and Gypsy songs in an album titledOrpheus in Exile: Songs of Vadim Kozin. The album was a tribute to Russian singer Vadim Kozin , who was exiled to the gulags of the Arctic Circle. The album was produced by Alexei Fedorov and features an orchestra arranged by Anatole Sobolev. [22] In June 2010, Almond released Varieté , an album of crafted personal songs, his first studio album of self-penned songs in almost a decade. Almond has stated this will possibly be his last fully self-penned album. He also announced a new concert tour in Autumn 2010 to celebrate his 30 years in music. Almond was awarded a Hero Award by the music magazine Mojo .

He undertook his most successful tour celebrating thirty years of being a recording artist with a show of mostly hits and A-sides entitled "All A's". In 2011, Almond released an album Feasting with Panthers. A collaboration with musician and arranger Michael Cashmore . It featured poems of Count Eric Stenbock put to music as well as decadent and homoerotic poems by Jean Genet , Jean Cocteau , Paul Verlaine and Rimbaud . Almond took part in a unique music-theatre work Ten Plagues held at Edinburgh's Traverse Theatre from 1–28 August 2011. Ten Plagues is a one man song cycle based on Daniel Defoe 's Journal of the Plague Year (which dates back to 1665), with metaphors of Aids and epidemics. It was a collaboration between Almond, theatre director and designer Stewart Laing, libretto author Mark Ravenhill and composer Conor Mitchell.

The show won the Scotman's Fringe First Award.[ citation needed ] In 2012, Almond took the role of the Greek Stoic philosopher Seneca in the Paris Théâtre du Châtelet's experimental rock adaptation of Poppea based on Monteverdi 's original 17th century opera The Coronation of Poppea also starring ex- Libertines Carl Barat , Benjamin Biolay , Fredrika Stahl , Valerie Gabail and Anna Madison. On 9 August 2012, Almond performed at Antony Hegarty's Meltdown Festival in London's Southbank. He sang the whole Marc and the Mambas Torment and Toreros album for the first time live. Some of the original musicians in the album performed with Almond: Gini Ball, Anne Stephenson, Martin McCarrick, Jim Thirlwell and Lee Jenkinson. Hegarty sang "My Little Book of Sorrows" with Almond. Personal life[ edit source ] Almond has lived in London for over 30 years. He divides his time between London, Moscow and Barcelona.

[23] In an interview in 2010, Almond said: "The London I love seems to be disappearing every day. For all its faults, it is the greatest city." [19] Almond has stated that he dislikes being pigeon-holed as "a 'gay' artist", claiming that such a label "enables people to marginalize your work and reduce its importance, implying that it won't be of any interest to anyone who isn't gay". [24] In 2010, Almond said that he has "a fulfilling work life and a comfortable private life". He has been with the same partner for over 20 years. [19] Talk Show - TV interviews with Marc Almond ◀ PREVNEXT ▶ Free Marc Almond biography | SONG365 Overview Biography Albums Tracks Biography of Marc Almond Marc Almond (born Peter Mark Sinclair Almond on 9 July 1957 in Southport, Lancashire, (now in the county of Merseyside, England) is a popular English singer, songwriter and recording artist, who originally found fame as half of the seminal synthpop/new wave duo Soft Cell.

Marc Almond has had a long and varied career spanning almost 30 years. During this time, after a career with Soft Cell and Marc and the Mambas, he has collaborated with an extremely wide range of artists including Antony and the Johnsons, Jools Holland, Siouxsie Sioux, Nick Cave, P. J. Proby, Nico, Kelli Ali of the Sneaker Pimps, Neal X (on the albums Fantastic Star and Open All Night), Marie France, Agnes Bernelle, Lydia Lunch, Gene Pitney on the #1 UK single “Something’s Gotten Hold of My Heart”, Foetus (a.k.a. J. G. Thirlwell), Jimmy Somerville of The Communards and Bronski Beat, Psychic TV, Coil, Sally Timms of Mekons, King Roc, John Cale and David Johansen of The New York Dolls and German band Rosenstolz.

Almond initially shot to fame in the early 1980s as one half of synth duo Soft Cell, whose combination of drama and peep show sleaze set to an electronic beat gave them hits such as “Tainted Love” (UK #1), “Bedsitter” (UK #3), “Torch” (UK #2), “Say Hello Wave Goodbye” (UK #3), “Soul Inside” (UK # 16), “What?” (UK #3) and the club hit “Memorabilia”. They were first spotted by David Oddie, boss of Wakefield based Ambergris Records in a Bradford club, who passed his enthusiasm onto Dead Good Records in Lincoln, famous for their Hicks From The Sticks compilation, who in turn approached Polygram, the newly formed amalgam of Polydor and Phonogram.

Top Tracks By Marc Almond 1 PayPlay.FM - Marc Almond Mp3 Download PayPlay.fm 80s , Cabaret , New Romantic , New Wave , Pop , Synth Pop Marc Almond (born Peter Mark Sinclair Almond on 9 July 1957 in Southport, Lancashire, (now in the county of Merseyside, England) is a popular English singer, songwriter and recording artist, who originally found fame as half of the seminal synthpop/new wave duo Soft Cell. Marc Almond has had a long and varied career spanning almost 30 years. During this time, after a career with Soft Cell and Marc and the Mambas, he has collaborated with an extremely wide range of artists including Antony and the Johnsons, Jools Holland, Siouxsie Sioux, Nick Cave, P. Marc Almond has had a long and varied career spanning almost 30 years. During this time, after a career with Soft Cell and Marc and the Mambas, he has collaborated with an extremely wide range of artists including Antony and the Johnsons, Jools Holland, Siouxsie Sioux, Nick Cave, P.J.

Proby, Nico, Kelli Ali of the Sneaker Pimps, Neal X (on the albums Fantastic Star and Open All Night), Marie France, Agnes Bernelle, Lydia Lunch, Gene Pitney on the #1 UK single "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart", Foetus (a.k.a. J. G. Thirlwell), Jimmy Somerville of The Communards and Bronski Beat, Psychic TV, Coil, Sally Timms of Mekons, King Roc, John Cale and David Johansen of The New York Dolls and German band Rosenstolz. Almond initially shot to fame in the early 1980s as one half of synth duo Soft Cell, whose combination of drama and peep show sleaze set to an electronic beat gave them hits such as "Tainted Love" (UK #1), "Bedsitter" (UK #3), "Torch" (UK #2), "Say Hello Wave Goodbye" (UK #3), "Soul Inside" (UK # 16), "What?" (UK #3) and the club hit "Memorabilia".

They were first spotted by David Oddie, boss of Wakefield based Ambergris Records in a Bradford club, who passed his enthusiasm onto Dead Good Records in Lincoln, famous for their Hicks From The Sticks compilation, who in turn approached Polygram, the newly formed amalgam of Polydor and Phonogram. Although Soft Cell disbanded in 1984 just before the release of fourth album, This Last Night In Sodom, the duo reunited in 2001 for live shows and in 2002 released a new album entitled Cruelty Without Beauty, from which the single "The Night" (UK #39) was taken. His biggest UK hits as a solo artist have been cover versions; the aforementioned 1989 number one duet with Gene Pitney and another near chart-topper in 1991 with David Mcwilliams' "The Days Of Pearly Spencer", which peaked at #4. In 1985, he duetted with Jimmy Somerville and Bronski Beat on a cover of Donna Summer's "I Feel Love (Medley)" and it hit #3.

The highest UK positions his self-penned singles have reached so far have been "Stories of Johnny" (#23 in 1985), "Tears Run Rings" (#28 in 1988) and "Adored and Explored" (#25 in 1995). Almond's work runs the gamut from electronica and dance music to french chanson, traditional piano ballads, and Russian romance songs, as exhibited on his 2003 album Heart On Snow. Influences include David Bowie, a childhood hero of his, as well as early 1960s Northern Soul and disco. Other major influences have been Scott Walker from Walker Brothers and Jacques Brel, 12 of whose songs Almond reworked in English for his 1989 album Jacques. Almond's own lyrics are a creative expression of what he sees and are not to be confused with his own life. He also operates a record label, Blue Star Music, on which he has released many of his solo and collaborative records in the UK. Almond currently lives in the Bermondsey area of south east London.

In his autobiography he describes previously living in Earl's Court, in a converted church in Fulham and most memorably in Soho's Berwick Street, where he lived in a flat overlooking the Raymond Revuebar. Soft Cell - Music on Google Play Soft Cell About the artist Soft Cell are an English synthpop duo who came to prominence in the late 1970s, consisting of vocalist Marc Almond and instrumentalist David Ball. The duo are principally known for their 1981 hit version of "Tainted Love" and 1981 debut album titled Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret. In the United Kingdom, they had ten Top 40 hits including "Tainted Love", "Torch", "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye", "What!", and "Bedsitter", and also had four Top 20 albums between 1981 and 1984. In 1984, the duo split but reformed in 2001 to tour and record new material, releasing their fifth studio album, Cruelty Without Beauty in 2002.

Soft Cell's songs have been covered by various artists including Nine Inch Nails, David Gray, Nouvelle Vague, and A-ha. Their track, "Memorabilia", earned recognition for the band as pioneers of the synth-oriented techno genre. The duo have sold 10 million records worldwide. 1 $5.99 This Last Night in Sodom is the third full-length album by the English synthpop duo Soft Cell. It was released in March 1984, about a month after the duo publicly announced they were dissolving the... 1 1 $5.99 The Art of Falling Apart is the second full-length album by the English synthpop duo Soft Cell, released in 1983. The album reached No. 5 on the UK charts, although its two singles "Where the Heart... 1 1 $9.49 The Very Best of Soft Cell is an official compilation album by Soft Cell. The album was released on April 16, 2002 and was approved by the band; it includes most of the hit singles and also some b-... 1 1 $8.99 The Very Best of Soft Cell is an official compilation album by Soft Cell.

The album was released on April 16, 2002 and was approved by the band; it includes most of the hit singles and also some b-... 1 Marc Almond 0 Peter Mark Sinclair "Marc" Almond is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Almond first began performing and recording in the synthpop/new wave duo Soft Cell. He has also had a diverse career ... 0 The Human League 0 The Human League are an English electronic new wave band formed in Sheffield in 1977. After signing to Virgin Records in 1979, the band released two albums and a string of singles before attaining ... 0 Bronski Beat 0 Bronski Beat were a popular British synthpop trio who achieved success in the mid-1980s, particularly with the 1984 chart hit "Smalltown Boy". All members of the group were openly gay and their son... 0 Yazoo 0 Yazoo were a British synthpop duo from Basildon, Essex, England, consisting of former Depeche Mode member Vince Clarke and Alison Moyet. Formed in late 1981 after Clarke responded to an advertiseme...

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0 A Flock Of Seagulls 0 A Flock of Seagulls are an English new wave and synthpop band originally formed in Liverpool by Michael "Mike" Score and his brother Alister "Ali" James Score; with their most famous line-up consis... 0 Altered Images 0 Altered Images were an early 1980s Scottish new wave/post-punk band. Fronted by singer Clare Grogan, the band branched into mainstream pop music, having six UK Top 40 hit singles and three Top 30 a... 0 Dead or Alive 0 Dead or Alive were an English pop band, formed in 1980 in Liverpool. The band found success in the 1980s and had seven Top 40 UK singles and three Top 30 UK albums. They were the first band to have... 0 OMD - Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark 0 Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark are an English electronic music band formed in Wirral, Merseyside in 1978. Spawned by earlier group The Id, the outfit was founded by Andy McCluskey and Paul Humph...

0 Japan 0 Japan were an English music group formed in 1974 in Catford, South London by David Sylvian, Steve Jansen, Richard Barbieri and Mick Karn. Initially a glam-inspired group, Japan developed their soun... 0 Spandau Ballet 0 Spandau Ballet /ˈspændaʊ ˈbæl.eɪ/ are an English band formed in London in the late 1970s. The band were inspired by, and an integral part of, the New Romantic movement. They became one of the most ... 0 Erasure 0 Erasure are an English synthpop duo, consisting of singer and songwriter Andy Bell and songwriter and keyboardist Vince Clarke. They formed in London, and entered the music scene in 1985 with their... 0 Music : Marc Almond - "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye" - YouTube Music : Marc Almond - "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye" Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later.

Uploaded on Feb 14, 2008 Song recorded at a concert in Cardiff, February 2008. Marc Almond initially shot to fame in the early 1980s as one half of synth duo Soft Cell. The song "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye" was one of their major hits and a personal favourite of mine, so I was pleased when it was performed on the night, especially as the view from the Front Row Seats was a very good one! Category

Question: In the early 1980s Marc Almond was half of which pop duo?
Answer: SOFT CELL